Saoirse?

[NameNameNameNames]

Follow on from my Isla thread, another name I have in mind is Saoirse.

Sister would still be Hazel, and there’s very little chance of the name being mispronounced

That's how I pronounce it. I've read that Saoirse Ronan pronounces her name Sir-sha though.

Go for it, lovely name. I wanted Róisín, but as we are in England thought that might cause issues.

well then you're good to go.

There can be regional differences in the pronunciation. I would pronounce it Seer-sha however I’ve heard many use Sayr-sha and both are acceptable.

It means Freedom, in case anyone is wondering.

Gorgeous.

Seer-sha is how it is pronounced by lots of people but it's not correct.
The aoi sound is very difficult for non Irish people to pronounce.

It's the same with Caoimhe/kee-va

it's how every Irish Saoirse I know pronounces her name.

It’s a beautiful name.

However, meaning freedom, is also the name of the monthly newspaper for the republican movement.

Depending on where you are in Ireland, people may assume political affiliations and prejudices about the child.

I know all this because I loved the name too but DH vetoed as didn’t want the baby “labelled”.

Someone I know named their child Sorcha which I thought was a complete bastardisation of the name.

Sorcha is a different name

I think its a bit like Sara/Sarah, people with different accents will pronounce it differently. In Ireland it'll be fine, it's just if she lives outside of Ireland you'll get mispronounciations. But then, I have a really common name that's always getting misspelled so I think you can have trouble with most names in one way or another. I think its pretty and would use it if you live it.

No.

Sorcha is a proper Irish name, pronounced (roughly) surr-uh-cha. (the ch sound as in 'loch')

some idiots though have changed the pronunciation to sore-sha. irritates me greatly.

It is “correct”- there are different dialects, it’s not one homogenous language and accent. We don’t have RP.

Sorcha is a different name, it is the Irish version of Sarah and it is pronounced Surka/ Surruka.

^ This @WasIBad

It is pronounced Sor-ka

Rather than Siir-Sha

Kind like Bruce and Bruno, close but no cigar.

I always think Sorcha being the Irish for Sarah was something that Coláiste na bhFiann made up because everyone had to have an Irish name when attending their courses. So Sarah would become Sorcha for the three weeks. Sarah is Hebrew though and Sorcha is the Irish word for brightness so the only thing they have in common really is the first initial.

I thought it was pronounced

Saw - sha

It's a lovely name but the pronunciation will confuse people at first

Yeah you’re probably right actually, it doesn’t make sense that a bible name would have an Irish version.

They couldn’t pin an Irish name on me, I got to keep my actual name 😂

I thought I was the only one! Sore arse, that's how I read it.

Love Hazel though, OP x

Lol. Good for you!

'I'll stick with Gemma thanks, someone else can use Gobnait'

One of my DC earnestly told me that there was a girl in her class called Saucer. We are not in Ireland.

I’m in the republic but not political whatsoever. I can honestly say I’ve never looked at a child called Saoirse and thought of politics

I grew up in Belfast and have the same associations as your husband.

Like Sorcha Cusack. Sister to Sinéad and Niamh.

@Focalpoint DH Irish Catholic, has worked all over. Has a number of cousins who like to “rubber stamp” the kids with the most obscure and difficult to pronounce Irish names to make a point.

I wasn’t even allowed Saoirse for the dog!! He said you can not run about a park shouting “freedom freedom”, maybe he has a point 😂

Mispronunciations aren't a big deal anyway. You correct the person and they do their best with whatever accent they have.